


I'll Be There For You

by Skaylenegeeksquad



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-20 16:15:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4794053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaylenegeeksquad/pseuds/Skaylenegeeksquad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the midst of working on her third doctorate, Lesley Keys's life is about to change. Coming from a humble background with a passion for science and technology, a career opportunity puts her in the middle of the world of the Avengers, working in the Research and Development department for Stark Industries at Avengers Tower. Lesley's journey for a fuller life began with her friends and family, but she will quickly discover where that path is destined to lead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This story began a fantasy in my head. It kept nagging at me until I decided to write it down. None of it is really meant to be taken seriously, or as a prediction, or anything like that. This is merely a "What if" scenario from my mind that drabbles on. This is set post Age of Ultron, but is a sort of alternate universe. Please enjoy.

“She’s ready for you.”

Lesley stood from the chair she was seated in and thanked the receptionist. As comfy as the waiting room was, her nerves wouldn’t calm down. She received a call from her friend Lucas the previous week saying he got her an interview for Stark Industries, at Avengers Tower nonetheless, but she wasn’t expecting to be seeing the CEO. Lesley, having received 2 doctorates in scientific fields, and currently working on her third, wasn’t the kind of person to be interviewed by the head-of-company. Head-of-science-department sure, leader of the research and development team absolutely. Definitely not the over-seer of all.

“Thank you,” Lesley replied to the receptionist. She picked up her small purse and folder containing her resume and references. Walking through to the office Lesley smiled warmly at the young woman at the desk again and attempted one last time to calm herself.

“Good morning, Ms. Keys. I’m Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Please, take a seat.” Pepper gestured toward the armchairs facing her desk. Her office was modern, sleek, yet also warm and welcoming. The window behind her desk over-looked the city skyline. The whole room was open with minimal decorations, but the few that were there had been picked by someone with style. Someone like the woman before Lesley, judging by her dress and choice in footwear.

“Hello,” Lesley replied, taking a seat. She felt oddly under-dressed in front of the CEO. Though Lesley had always been simple in her attire (curse of the science nerds), she always kept a few nice things for occasions such as this. Lesley realized now that maybe she should’ve taken Nigel and Lillian up on their offer to “re-style” her wardrobe. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise,” Pepper replied with a curt smile. “Now down to business. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m the one to conduct this interview and not someone from the actual department you’ll be working with. You see, we seem to be short-staffed up there and those who would normally be doing this are busy trying to fill those positions. Since you seem to be the most qualified, I took it upon myself to interview you, believing it to be a quick process. This is more of a formality.”

“Formality? Please explain.” Lesley immediately felt a surge of relief spread through her, only to be replaced by curiosity and confusion. She tried to keep hope out of the equation, though the eagerness in her voice betrayed her.

“After speaking with the research and development department, we would like you to start as soon as possible. They are very impressed with your research and will do everything they can to help you transition to our facility if you choose to accept our offer.”

Lesley almost jumped with joy. She couldn’t believe she was nearly guaranteed the job! “It would be a pleasure to work here,” Lesley said, failing to hide her excitement. At her previous lab, they lacked funding for the equipment she needed. Here at Stark Industries, she would have the best of the best, and then some. She wouldn’t have to pick and choose which experiments to run due to budget cuts. Lesley suddenly felt much more secure about what her future held. There were so many possibilities!

“Excellent! I’ll go ahead and get the paperwork started. Can you start tomorrow? We’ll work it out with your current employer…” Pepper was saying, going on to explain the different benefit options and other details about working there. Lesley, however, was barely listening. She was too excited. “…so if you’ll meet him outside, you can take a tour of your new work space. Stop by here before you leave this afternoon to pick up some paperwork and leave some signatures at the desk and we’ll see you tomorrow! Lesley?”

Lesley was jerked out of her thoughts at the sound of her name. “What? Oh, yes! Of course! Tomorrow sounds great.”

“Lucas is waiting for you outside. Good luck, Ms. Keys,” Pepper said, standing to shake Lesley’s hand. Lesley quickly stood and shook the woman’s hand. She only now realized that Pepper was a good 4 inches taller. Subtract both ladies heals and it would be a 2 inch difference…

Lesley again was brought back to reality when she saw her best friend outside the office. Lucas, tall, handsome, blonde, and gay turned to greet Lesley as she appeared back in the waiting room. She was reminded of the day they met, before he came out of the closet, in college and how immediately attracted to him she felt. Then she got to see what an odd guy he was and they became more like siblings. “So how’d it go, Les’? Good, I take it, or I wouldn’t be here to show you around…” he trailed off as they entered the elevator to take them to the labs.

“Oh my gosh! Lucas, I was all but guaranteed the job from the beginning! Why didn’t you tell me? I was freaking out for days!” Lesley exclaimed, playfully hitting Lucas on the arm.

Lucas laughed. “I swear I didn’t know. I did know you had a decent chance, but you know how you are when you get sure of yourself,” he said with a smirk, raising his eyebrows.

“How? How do I get Lucas, when I…” She stopped talking because they had reached the labs. The beautiful, fully equipped, sparkling labs. Lesley was speechless. She had never been in a better working environment. Everything was pristine and sleek. There wasn’t a speck of dust on any of the state-of-the-art machines. Why didn’t she come work here earlier? Lucas led her to an empty desk in the middle.

“This will be your main work space. You’ll receive a company-issued laptop when you start, though you are permitted to connect your personal device to the network. Research and development has 10 levels. There are 8 levels of labs and 2 garage/building floors. Levels 1, 2, and 3 are the biology labs. 4, 5, and 6 are where we do most of our work. You need special permission to gain access to levels 7 and 8, as that’s where Dr. Banner and—”

“Dr. Banner?” Lesley cut Lucas off, again failing to hide how she lit up at the mention of her hero. “You mean THE Dr. Banner?”

“The big, green, raging, Hulk monster Dr. Banner, yes.” Lucas said impatiently, rolling his eyes and waving his hand. He knew how obsessed Lesley was with Dr. Banner’s work and didn’t want to deal with another episode of hers. Lesley grinned with excitement, but shut up before she began. “As I was saying, that’s where Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark do most of their experiments. I suggest you stay out of their way,” Lucas paused with a cringe. Lesley laughed. She had heard the story of Lucas walking in on the two Avengers in the middle of a questionable experiment that resulted with Lucas being out of work, sick for a week. They didn’t talk about it.

Lucas continued when he saw that Lesley wasn’t going to say anything. “You will also has access to garage level 1. Level 2 is, again, reserved mainly for Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner.”

The pair continued around the lab levels and up to garage level 1, Lucas giving his grand tour of the place while Lesley asked a few questions here and there. Having heard her two friends Lucas and Trish talk about working for Stark Industries for some time, there wasn’t a whole lot Lesley didn’t know. Lesley was already planning her next 5 years of research and describing, in-detail, what machines would be used and for how long. If there was something she hadn’t seen before, she thought about what she could do to use it. After seeing the building equipment in the workshops, she debated what to build first. Lesley honestly couldn’t decide where to start. There were so many things on her to-do list, but her old lab just couldn’t support her ideas. Lucas introduced her to different scientists as they saw them. Soon enough, lunch rolled around and Lesley followed Lucas to the cafeteria.

“You don’t have to eat here during your lunch break, but it’s close and I know you don’t like to waste time,” Lucas told Lesley when they arrived in the large room. Looking across the crowd, he said “Oh! There’s Trish!”

Trish was the other friend from Lesley’s group that worked there. She, like Lucas, worked in scientific research. Lesley spotted her short, spiked, light-brown hair with pink tips. She saw Lucas and walked over.

“So I assume you got the job then?” Trish asked when she was standing in front of them, using her monotone, I-don’t-give-a-crap voice. It wasn’t that she didn’t care, she just had the emotional range of a teaspoon. Emotions were largely reserved for her partner, Erika, who no one would guess was a lesbian unless seen with Trish. The two were total complimentary opposites, like Yin and Yang. “It’ll be nice for you to get out of that hell-hole they call a lab.”

“Good to see you, too, Trish,” Lesley said, rolling her eyes and laughing at her short friend. Trish was 5’ 2 ¼’’, and gave crap to anyone who forgot the ¼’’. A true Napoleon complex, they teased her. “What’s good here? I’m starving!”

***

After lunch, Lesley followed Trish and Lucas back to the lab. There really wasn’t much for Lesley to do until she started the next day, but she enjoyed the feel of the place and wanted to get used to it before transferring all her research to a new facility. She also couldn’t resist a chance to catch up with her friends.

“So tell me, Lucas,” Lesley began once the trio was settled back in their work stations. “Have you and Nigel found a place yet?” Nigel had been Lucas’s boyfriend for 2 years and they finally decided to share an apartment when Lucas’s lease ended. However, until they could find a new place to call “theirs”, Lucas had been crashing at Lesley’s place. “Just asking. Kinda want to know when I’ll have my guest room back,” she added with a wink. She didn’t mind Lucas living with her. He actually kept the place pretty clean, not that Lesley was a slob. Lesley’s sister just kept wanting to come visit with her family, and without a guest room Lesley had to keep declining. She wouldn’t make her family stay in a crappy hotel.

“I know, I know!” Lucas exclaimed. “You want your sister to visit. I get it! Actually, I might be out this weekend. Nigel and I might’ve found a place.”

“Really? Where?”

“Three doors down from me,” Trish said with a sidewise glance at the other two, voice dripping in sarcasm. “Yipee.”

Lesley laughed. “Aww, come on Trish! That’ll be fun! Gay parties ‘til the sun comes up!”

“Ok, well while you girls talk decorating, I have work to get done,” Trish said, gathering a few papers and walking to the elevators. Lucas looked over at Lesley, grinning.

“She might not show it, but she’s happy. Erika can’t wait to have a new neighbor. She won’t shut up. Keeps saying that we’re one step closer to having Gay Hall,” he said, snickering.

“Just invite me to the housewarming party. And invite cute guys. You have a better eye than I do,” Lesley replied, snickering to herself. “I’m happy for you two,” she continued, trying to keep the twinge of sadness out of her voice. At 35, Lesley had expected to be married with a couple of kids at this point, like her younger sister. She wasn’t the only one that was single in her group of friends, or the oldest. In fact, all of the straight friends, as they called themselves, were around the same age and had yet to be married off. But she had the shortest track record of relationships. Though, Lesley had had her share of one-night-stands. She was happy with her life, but she felt like something was missing. She had great friends, a successful career, and a long list of accomplishments that was impressive for anyone, let alone for a woman and for someone as young as she still was. But she was ready to take the next step. Which meant finding a lasting relationship that was right for her.

Lucas chuckled warmly. “You’re just jealous that Nigel stole me from you,” eyeing her in a teasing manner using a sing-song voice.

“You know it,” Lesley replied flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes seductively.

Lesley spent the next hour chatting with Lucas about the move and his work. Eventually Trish came back down and joined their conversation. Lesley wandered around a bit, checking out others’ experiments and research, and planning her next step. She introduced herself to the other scientists that were there. She quickly understood what Pepper had meant by being short-staffed. In that part of the lab there was space for about 35 people. Only about 13 lab techs, soon to be 14 she reminded herself, filled those positions. She thought the lab should be crawling with scientists, each floor filled to the brim with people trying to leave their mark on the scientific community. Who wouldn’t want to work for Stark Industries? Lesley had known people who would fight to the death for the opportunity to work there. Time quickly passed and a few people started to pack up to go home. Once she had her fill of the lab for the day, Lesley bade farewell to her friends and headed back down to Pepper’s office to pick up her paperwork. The receptionist kindly handed her a folder with everything she needed, with instructions to drop it off at HR the next morning, where she would also be issued her computer and ID badge. She thanked the young woman and went down to the ground floor to catch a cab back to her apartment.

When she finally got back home it was about 3:30. She kicked off her shoes and changed into her favorite sweats and flannel shirt. She sighed at the relief of no longer wearing a bra and plopped herself on the couch to start sorting through the paperwork. Thankfully, Lesley had had the sense to take the whole day off for the interview. This gave her time to comprehend and appreciate the changes in her life. Her black, fluffy cat hopped on her lap to help her sort through the mess. “Hey there, Spock!” she greeted him. “I bet you’re hungry.” Lesley left the couch to fill Spock’s food dish. When she returned to the papers, she sat on the floor and set the mess on her coffee table. After a while she turned on Netflix to watch _Firefly_ for the millionth time while signing documents and filling out the same personal information on about 4 pieces of paper. Around 5 o’ clock she went to make dinner for her and Lucas.

“What do you think?” she asked her blank-faced fur-ball. “Spaghetti?”

“Meow.”

“Me too.” She laughed to herself. At least there was one steady relationship in her life, she thought to herself.

While the noodles were boiling, her phone rang. She dug through her purse while “I Am the Doctor” blared from the depths. She found it and hit the answer button.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sweetie!”

“Hi, Mom. How are you?” Lesley completely forgot to call her after the interview. She mentally face-palmed herself. She’d been so wrapped-up in the thought of her new career path she’d nearly forgotten about her family back home.

“I’m doing fine. How did the job interview go?” Her mom had been worried when Lesley had decided to make the move to New York. Her mom knew that it was mainly for school and that she had friends in the area, but mama Keys didn’t like the idea of her daughter moving to the opposite coast.

“I got the job, Mom! I start tomorrow.”

“Congratulations, Sweetheart! Now just wait until your uncle hears that you work for Stark Industries! He’ll be so jealous…”

“Mom, I know you think that Justin and I have this competition between us, but he was the one who suggested that I go for my first doctorate, and was the most proud when I went back for more.” Lesley’s uncle, Justin, had been her inspiration to follow her passion for science, physics in particular. Growing up, he was the one she would always call for help with assignments. He basically became her father and mentor when her own passed away, leaving her mother to raise her and her baby sister all alone.

“Well, do you want to call him or should I? He should know. He is the one who told you to take the offer,” she said. Lesley strained the noodles and set about making the sauce.

“I’ll call him later.” Lesley didn’t really want to deal with two overly-excited parent-figures in one evening. “How’s school going?” And with that, Lesley listened to mom discus her students and their experiences in middle school band while Lesley finished dinner. She finally ended her call with her mom when Lucas walked in, claiming that they had to eat dinner.

“Bye, Mom! Love you!”

“Yeah, love you, Mom!” Lucas called from the living room.

“Lucas says hi,” she told her mother, laughing softly.

“Love you, too. Stay safe. Don’t get into any trouble. Tell him hi back.”

“I won’t, Mom. Avengers Tower is probably the safest building on the world. Don’t worry,” Lesley assured her mother. They said their final goodbyes and promised another call soon with more updates.

“She says ‘Hi back’,” Lesley called back to Lucas when she hung up. “Dinner’s ready. I made spaghetti.”

“My favorite! It’s a good thing Nigel cooks. I don’t know what I’d do on my own.” He smirked.

“You’d go homeless and die on the streets,” Lesley nonchalantly replied. That was a common topic of discussion among their group. They all tended to ‘share their gifts’ with each other, as they called it, which frequently resulted in discussions of where their lives would be without each other. It was seriously like living in the world of _Friends_ or _How I Met Your Mother_.

After dinner, Lucas cleaned up while Lesley finished up the paperwork for her new job. When she finally finished and packed it up Lesley settled on the couch, joined by Lucas when he finished the dishes. Spock jumped up and stretched between the two. Lucas started _Firefly_ once more and the pair relaxed late into the night before heading off to their respective rooms for bed. Before she fell asleep, Lesley thought about all the recent and coming changes in her life. Lesley smiled to herself. When sleep did catch up with her, she felt excited and anticipatory for the coming day. Lesley's new beginning would start the next morning.


	2. Routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! My classes started and I've been really busy! I know this story is really slow, but I promise I'm building to something. I have the whole thing planned out, it's just writing it and then editing it so it's presentable with readable grammar. Please don't disregard this story because it doesn't jump right into the action!

The next morning, Lesley awoke to Spock running laps up and down the hall. He stopped to scratch at her door, wanting to be let inside. Lesley rolled over. Her phone read 5:28. Why must Spock wake her up 2 minutes before her alarm, she asked herself. She walked over to her door to let the monster in. She looked down and saw that Spock left her a present: a big, black, dead spider.

“Gross, Spock!” she exclaimed, grabbing a tissue to throw the spider away.

“Meow?” Spock seemed to respond, cocking his head to the side. He brushed Lesley’s leg on his way out the door, probably to the kitchen expecting to be fed. Lesley rolled her eyes and followed suit. After filling the food dish Lesley packed her swimming bag and headed to her local pool for a few morning laps to start the day. She met Lillian each morning to swim laps. They met outside and showed their membership cards to the front desk, then headed to the locker rooms to change.

“So how did the job thing go yesterday?” Lillian asked once they were out on the pool deck. Lillian had always been Lesley’s sister away from home, and they treated each other as such.

“I start today,” Lesley replied, hopping in the water to start their warm-up.

“What? And you’re here, not at home getting ready for your first day on the job?” Lillian chastised, hopping in after her.

“Lili, it’s honestly just another lab for my research. It’s not like a whole lot will change. I just get better equipment.”

“And better pay. And see Lucas and Trish every day. And isn’t that where the Avengers headquarters are? So…”

“I see Lucas every day anyway. That will never change. As for the Avengers, the only one I might run into is Dr. Banner—”

“The one you can’t shut up about? Come on, that must be exciting!”

“I’m not attracted to him! I’m just really impressed with his work.”

“Oh yeah. It’s the OTHER science nerd you like…”

“If you’re talking about Tony Stark, you’re quite mistaken. He’s arrogant and self-centered, always trying to be the center of attention. And I’ll tell him so to his face if I ever get the chance,” Lesley said, bobbing under the water to finally start her laps.

“Well just don’t let Rebecka hear you say that. You know how obsessed she is with the SOB,” Lillian said, laughing, following after Lesley, who only heard about half of what Lili had said. The two swam for an hour, pushing each other to keep going. They had a system where they would challenge each other to “one more lap” if they started to get tired. Otherwise they would never get a workout. When 6:45 rolled around they exited the pool and hit the showers.

“So what time do you actually need to be there?” Lillian asked while they rinsed off.

“A little before 9. I have to turn some papers in to HR before I start. It’s a typical 9-5 job. But I don’t need to be there that long every day. I can kinda come and go when I want as long as my research progresses.”

“So you won’t be rushed for time in the morning. That’s good.” The pair left the showers to get dressed at their lockers. On their way to their respective apartments, Lesley and Lillian stopped at a café for breakfast. The barista, knowing the pair well, already had their coffee and muffins ready. They ate, chatting a bit about their plans for the upcoming weekend.

“Don’t you have a date with Zach this Sunday?” Lesley asked. Zach was the one straight guy in their dysfunctional family, and though all three single woman found him charming and oddly attractive, he definitely had a thing for Lillian. She tried to ignore it, but recently gave in to his persistence. The others had an unspoken bet on how long it would take for the pair to get together. Lesley herself thought they would be married within a year of their first date.

“Ugh, don’t remind me!” Lillian said, covering her face with her hands.

Lesley laughed. “Why? Because you’re afraid you might actually fall for the poor guy? Just be glad there’s someone who wants you. Rebecka and I, well…” Lesley trailed off, smirking at Lillian.

The two sat there, nursing their coffee until around 7:20, when they bade farewell and went home. Lucas was awake and drinking a cup of coffee at the table when Lesley entered her small apartment. She waved in greeting then headed to the bathroom to shower properly. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was nervous about her new job. The stakes were higher, they expected results, and both Lucas and Trish had stuck out their necks for her. She couldn’t disappoint. After 20 minutes under the scalding water, Lesley padded to her room in a towel to get dressed. Long, brown hair wrapped up in another towel, she looked in her closet for something to where. She wanted to be comfortable, but also wanted to make an impression on her new colleagues. Though it wasn’t really her style, Lesley settled on a loose button-up blouse and nice jeans. Not the most professional, but she wasn’t the face of the company and she expected to be moving around quite a bit. After getting dressed she went back to the bathroom to do her hair and make-up. With naturally straight hair, she brushed it out to let it air-dry. She applied minimal make-up (mascara, eye-liner, a bit of blush) and called it good. She walked back out to the kitchen to meet Lucas before they left together.

“What do you think? Too much, not enough?” Lesley asked Lucas. He looked her up and down.

“More than your usual, but you’ll ease out of it. There’s not really a dress code. Otherwise, perfect.” Lucas gave his seal of approval with a thumbs-up and a wink. It was really Nigel who was the fashion police, but Lesley trusted Lucas all the same. If he said it was good, it was enough for her. They walked down to the lobby together and hailed a cab. The half-hour ride got them to Avengers Tower at precisely 8:36. Lucas headed up to the labs while Lesley stopped by HR.

When Lesley finally reached her desk, she had a company computer and her ID badge. She immediately set up both the Stark-issued laptop and her own personal computer and set to work transferring her research to its new home.

The rest of the week passed much the same. Swimming in the morning, going to work with Lucas, and preparing her research for the updated facility. She left the office with Lucas and Trish Friday evening to go to the usual bar their group met at each weekend. Lesley hoped that after the weekend she would actually be able to continue with her research, the transferring completed that afternoon.

When the trio reached the bar, Erika, Nigel, and Rebecka were already there, enough beers around for all 8 of them. Erika stood when she saw Trish and went over to greet her with a kiss. Lucas went and sat next to Nigel and kissing him on the cheek, followed by Trish and Erika.

“Should we greet each other that way, Les’?” Rebecka asked after witnessing the exchange between the two same-sex couples.

“If it will get me kissed, absolutely,” Lesley teased back. She sat down next to Rebecka. “Where’s the couple-soon-to-be?”

“Lillian said that she got held up at work. And that Zach wanted to pick her up,” Nigel said, raising his eyebrows and taking a sip of his beer. Lesley took a swig of hers. Lillian was an office manager at a local private school, grades 6-12. Fridays tended to be her busiest days.

“Starting the date a bit early, is he?” Rebecka said. Everyone started to laugh.

“You do have to admire his persistence,” Erika said, swinging her arm around Trish. The two really were adorable together.

“So, change of subject,” Rebecka started, turning towards Lesley. “How’s the big company? Enjoying yourself?”

Lesley smiled. “It really is great. And yes, I am enjoying myself.”

“Good. Maybe the fact that you work there can get me laid. I mean, get us laid. Run into the infamous Tony Stark yet?” Rebecka asked, face lighting up at the thought of Stark.

Lesley shook her head while the others laughed. “I don’t think it works that way, Rebecka,” Erika said.

“Well darn. I was really hoping to get some tonight,” Rebecka said, defeated. She gulped down the rest of her beer and ordered another.

“Rough day?” Lucas asked, grinning.

“That’s an understatement,” Rebecka replied. Rebecka was a successful defense attorney but her boss hated her, so she always got stuck with the hardest cases. “It’s like Harry trying to please Snape, and it can only be done by sucking his dick.” Everyone laughed. Just then Zach and Lillian strolled in and sat at the table.

“What’d we miss this time?” Zach asked.

“Apparently, Rebecka want to pleasure Snape,” Trish answered, smirking.

“Oh yeah, that greasy scalp gets me all hot and bothered,” Rebecka said, rolling her eyes and trying to stifle a laugh. The table then got into a deep conversation about the hottest Hogwarts professors, and it was decided that Lupin could get into all of their pants, except Zach, who somehow got landed with Trelawny, much to his annoyance and everyone else’s enjoyment. Trish and Erika’s excuse was to get a three-way (or four-way) with Tonks. Lockhart was written off as trying to compensate for a small dick, and everyone else was either too old (Binns) or too young (Neville).

The rest of the evening and night fell into talk of the previous week and updates on everyone’s lives since they last saw each other the previous Friday night. Lucas and Nigel discussed their moving plans for the next day. Everyone agreed to help out, Lesley, Lilian, and Zach getting Lucas out of Lesley’s place, and Trish, Erika, and Rebecka helping Nigel out of his. At some point the beers turned into shots and the group started slipping into drunkenness. Embarrassing stories that everyone knew were told again and again. Around midnight the group disbanded. Lucas had decided to go over to Nigel’s, which left Lesley alone with Spock. Zach insisted on walking Lillian home and Rebecka had picked up another random guy to go home with, her flavor of the week. At least this one looked age appropriate. When Lesley got home she took a couple aspirin to jump-start the hangover remedy and curled up in bed with her cat. Her friends were meeting at her place at 9, so she needed to get as much sleep as she could. Not long after her head hit the pillow did happy thoughts about the changes in her life that week lull her to sleep.

***

“Morning, sleepyhead!”

“Ugh…”

“Come on. We’re all here. You’re not the only hungover crank in the morning.” Lucas’s voice finally hit Lesley. She checked her phone. 9:34. She had slept in. She had a suspicion that the others did too and that they had barely arrived. But curse Lucas and his controlled drinking habits. He was way too happy and awake this morning.

“Alright, I’m up! Go feed my cat before he wrecks the apartment,” Lesley said sleepily, hearing Spock scratching at her door, even though it was wide open. Lesley slowly got out of bed and threw her hair up in a loose bun. She found her yoga pants and a flannel shirt to wear and walked out to the living room where Lillian and Zach were putting boxes together.

“She lives!” Zach said upon her arrival. His light brown hair was pointing in all directions and his high school band t-shirt that was covered in stains hung on his torso like moss on a tree in a swamp. He always had a warm smile on his face that made his dimple pop. Lesley remembered both how she and Lillian and Rebecka had all crushed on him when they first met, and what a dork he truly was. Lesley chuckled to herself then yawned.

“You call this living? I feel like someone dropped an anvil on my head.” Lesley rubbed her head and went to pour herself a cup of coffee. Spock rubbed up against her legs in greeting before padding over to his recently filled food dish and started eating. 

Zach laughed. “Well we need to have my truck packed in 2 hours. That’s all the meter outside would let me pay for.”

For the next hour and a half the team of four searched the apartment for Lucas’s belongings. For being so clean, Lucas sure had a knack of losing things in odd places. They found an old toothbrush in the couch, a pair of socks in the cupboard, and his long-lost cell phone under the bathroom sink. Box after box was filled. The guys carried them down to Zach’s truck while the girls straightened the spare room. When the men came back it was time to head out. Lucas pick up Spock to say good-bye.

“This isn’t going to be the last time you see him, you know,” Lesley told him.

“I know. But it’s kinda like leaving one family to start another. Nigel and I are starting something new. It’s poetic!” Lucas explained. After a rather intimate moment with the cat, Lucas put him down. Spock bounded away chasing a fly. “This is a big change. Everything seems to be changing.”

When all 8 members of their group met again at Lucas’s and Nigel’s new apartment, Lesley could tell that Rebecka was feeling the effects of the previous night as well. She had bags under her eyes, shied away from bright light, and walking looked painful for her. “Rough night?” Lesley asked her, trying to stifle her amused snort.

“You want the gory details or brief overview?” She replied, cringing as she reached up to put something in the kitchen cupboard.

“Brief overview for now. Save the gory details for girls’ night. Was it any good?”

Completely ignoring Lesley’s request for minimal description, Rebecka told all about her sexual encounter the night before. “Hell yes it was good! I don’t think I’ve ever been so satisfied in my life! He did this thing with his tongue…” she began not stopping until very little was left to the imagination.

“Woah! Rebecka! I do not need to know these things!” Zach exclaimed when he walked in carrying a box. “Remember what we talked about? Censoring yourself?” He was bright red.

“Sorry Zach. I said I wanted a brief overview,” Lesley said pointedly toward Rebecka. Zach shook his head and turned to leave after setting the box down. Lesley and Rebecka started to laugh. “Oh my, that look on his face!”

“I know! He thinks he’s so innocent. We’ll have to drill Lillian in the future. I’m sure that man is packing!” Rebecka spit out between snorts. “Anyway, I got the guy’s number. He wants to see me one more time before he leaves the city.”

“So what does he do?” Lesley asked, opening up another box to unpack.

“He didn’t really say. There wasn’t a whole lot of talking, you know?” Rebecka said with a grin. “He just said he was here on business, but that he’s here a lot. Asked for my number for when he’s in town.”

“Sounds like there might be something there? Your super-secretive fellow?”

Rebecka laughed. “I don’t know. I hope to get to know him better this week. He might be like some sort of spy! My secret spy guy!”

Lesley laughed at that. “Your secret-agent man? Isn’t that a long-term fantasy of yours? Did you wish really hard?”

“Hey ladies! How’s the kitchen looking?” The two women turned to face the interruption.

“Hey Nigel. I think this is the last box…” Lesley said, looking around the small area. “What else needs to be unpacked?”

“I think the only thing left is the bedroom. We’ll take care of that,” he replied with a wink. “Trish and Ericka ordered pizza for all of us over at their place.”

“Awesome! I need to eat something. I’m starving! After last night –”

“Stop right there, girl! No more gross stories!” Rebecka was cut off by Lucas.

“I kinda want to hear,” Trish said quietly when she walked in.

“No. No you don’t. You really, really don’t,” replied both Lesley and Zach, though each had a completely different tone of voice. He had his hands over his ears. Everyone laughed at the cringe Zach gave. He was thoroughly disgusted and embarrassed.

Not long after, all 8 of them were crammed inside the tiny apartment down the hall. Trish and Ericka had barely enough seats for everyone. They rarely hosted everyone, but that night it was convenient. All of them were exhausted and hungry and just wanted to relax. A few of them (Rebecka, Lesley, and Trish) were still feeling the effects of the previous night, though their headaches were just a dull throbbing by that point. Rebecka probably felt the most pain, though for other reasons that should not be discussed in normal civil conversation. The group talked and laughed and told stories that they had all heard a million times. The night wore on and they disbanded. Zach escorted Lillian home again. Lucas and Nigel left to finish unpacking a few things before going to bed. Rebecka and Lesley were the last to leave. They walked out together but had to go separate directions.

“Promise to spill the events of your date with Secret Agent Man?”

“Every last one. See ya’ later!”

“Bye!” Lesley called after her friend. She smiled to herself as she turned to hail a cab. Maybe Lucas was right, Lesley thought. Their lives were changing. But where was hers headed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I'll take bets on who Rebecka's mystery guy is. ; )
> 
> The answer will come. Just not any time soon. Sorry. HAHA!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really taking my time with edits. I want this to be right and the way I want it to be. I hope for frequent updates, but I'm also starting college classes, so who knows. But since this is a form of an alternate universe, there's really no rush to complete it before the next Marvel movie comes out, or a need to avoid continuity errors. I'll update as chapters are ready. Thanks for reading!


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